“Discover your potential to raise your children”: A psychoeducational infancy parenting intervention in Spain

Background

The quality of parenting has a significant impact on healthy development across the life cycle. Recent research has highlighted the financial return of evidence-based parenting programs that are well designed and implemented.

Objective

To analyze the impact of a psychoeducational guidance intervention program aimed at improving parenting skills.

Method

Thirty-five families with children aged between 0 and 3.5 years referred from the educational, social, and health departments of the Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council (Spain) participated in the study. Using a longitudinal approach, the intervention took place over the course of three home visits: initial pretest assessment visit, feedback and orientation visit, and a final posttest assessment visit.

Results

Statistically significant pretest–posttest differences were observed in parenting skills, including cognitive and socio-emotional development scaffolding, parental self-efficacy, parental adaptive stress, and diversity of experiences.

Conclusions

Several areas for improvement were detected in the context of an intervention based on customized guidance for individual families. The implementation process indicated issues to be improved in future program editions.

Implications

Our findings provide family and public health policy makers with empirical support for the implementation of parenting programs designed to help families to acquire and improve parenting competencies to foster their children's comprehensive development, focused on the period between 0 and 3.5 years of life. Results of the study favor the propagation among Spanish professionals who work with families of the use of quality standards of the evidence-based approach related to quality of implementation and assessment of the impact of parenting programs.